1.02 The Big Bran Hypothesis

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Week 3 of the Rewind Imperative.

Please join us in watching a vintage Big Bang episode every week and relive the very best of this show. On and around Thursday March 26, 2015, we will be re-watching:

The Big Bran Hypothesis
Originally aired Monday, October 1, 2007
Written by Chuck Lorre & Bill Prady





The pilot did so well, CBS extended the shows first season run to from 13 to 22 episodes. The Bran Hypothesis scored an impressive 3.4 with 8.58m people watching, not bad for a 2nd episode. Only 17 episodes were produced though because on November 5, 2007 the Television Writers Guild went on strike over wages and the show lost 5 episodes. This is quite sad, 5 old-school episodes that were never created.

Chuck Lorre writes on the vanity card for this episode.
"Don't lurk around web sites where people comment about your work unless you're drunk." Bottoms up Chucky

Please note: Rewind Imperative polls are open to non-members.

[Toad]

Some appetizers...

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Thanks Toad! These old episodes are rammed full of great ideas, they really took care in their creation. The B plots, if they had one, were always as strong as the main story. And Howard dancing on the Xbox is one of my favourite opening scenes. It's little touches like that, which made this show so special. The sarcasm sign is one of Leonards funniest moments and when Sheldon said "I have no peers" I believed him.

[FlyingSolo]

This was a very nice episode. Leonard was much more likable here. I loved the scene with the sarcasm poster too. Classic comedy right here. How I wish that the newer episodes were like this.

[Jomi25]

This is definitely one of the funniest episodes. Sheldon's scientifically-accurate Superman scenario is my fave.

I liked the beginning part where Leonard was talking to Penny and the other boys just rushed to the door when they realized it was her. I mean, even Sheldon wanted to see her. Look at that boyish smile! I don't remember him being like that with the Alicia girl. Hehe.

And the boys really liked dealing with mundane stuff in the nerdiest of ways, didn't they? I miss those moments.

[wellplayedpenny]

PJ, you never got back to me in the grumble box about posting here. I take it I'm to just stick to the episode in question as opposed to talking about any context to the series? To be safe I just stuck to the former.

This episode for me is the true starting point for the show because all of the characters are on their way to becoming true to form. Penny with her (justifiably) firecracker temper who then later realizes that Sheldon (particularly Sheldon!) and Leonard aren't typical guys and shouldn't be treated as such. Leonard with his 'why me?' vulnerability and loyalty to his off-center roommate and Sheldon being his anal retentive self. And how can we forget conceited! 'I have no peers.' Just awesome!

What I loved were the differing dynamics between how Leonard sees/deals with Sheldon and how the rest of the world does via Penny's point of view. Leonard knew that cleaning Penny's apartment was insane (and illegal) but decided to assist Sheldon--and that's what I love about Leonard in the first season. His submission is not a weakness on his part; he knew there was no logical way to get Sheldon out of the apartment so he might as well ensure that the job gets done quickly--and hopefully without the involvement of the police! He could have just left Sheldon there but he doesn't. He won't abandon his friend, even in the midst of lunacy.

It made me wonder what else Leonard had done over the previous two years of knowing Sheldon, what other 'crazy', illegal activities had the singer of classical music to lima beans committed with his whackadoodle roommate? As much as Sheldon's idiosyncrasies provide humour for the audience I'm quite sure there's at least a part of Leonard that gets a kick out of it, all exasperation aside. There's a warmth to their relationship because he understands Sheldon more than any person on the planet besides Mary Cooper.

Penny's reaction to the violation is normal--but this is where normal comes face to face with the paradigm of Sheldon Cooper which is more concerned with order than legality. Penny's jaw drops, her anger becomes disbelief, at Sheldon's inquiry into her outrage: was her objection solely to their presence in the apartment while she was sleeping or was it merely an imposition of a new organisational paradigm? We know which one weighs more heavily in Sheldon's world. The other requires a discussion with his roommate.

This episode allowed us access into Sheldon's world (and Leonard's suffering one) but more importantly it showed us how Penny's world alters. In the real world, intruders are burglars and rapists, She realizes that in the world of 4A intruders can also be heroes combating a messy apartment. She realizes that Sheldon and Leonard aren't jerks and that they really did mean well. They're not threatening, Even Leonard, for all his 'liking' of Penny, is only there to get his roommate out of there as soon as possible. Her confirmation that the guys are 'different, but okay' comes at the end when the guys are preparing to assemble her shelf. Suggesting she'd take off all her clothes didn't even get a blink out of the gang. They're there to help *her* not help themselves *to* her. While it might be weird, perhaps endearing, to Penny I'm sure it was also refreshing.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Well that was just perfect wellplayed! It's easy to forget how Leonard and Sheldon were back when BB began. They were by far, the most interconnected characters. Best friends in spite of Sheldon's conceit and arrogance and it was easy to like this Leonard. He knew who Sheldon was and provided him with translation of the world around him because he saw deep down that Sheldon was brilliant but society incapable on his own. At that time Sheldon was also unfailing loyal to him.

This is the episode where the real Penny emerges. She wasn't quite there in the Pilot, all those "Hi's" and I'm sure she didn't think all that much about these nerds across the hall. I love how her normal communication is challenged and how she manages to work it out for herself who she's dealing with.

There's also Howard and Raj, the other double act. I loved the way Howard used to speak for Raj. These two are so close they could almost be a couple.

And the final scene when Penny admits "this place does look pretty good" just underlined she'd accepted them into her lives.

[Trust No One]

Great review as always WPP! It's amazing what a show can do when you are not just focused on all the lousy Ships. This Leonard before getting together with Penny was good. Once you go down the dark path of Ships. Forever will it dominate your destiny and ruin your show.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

One interesting thing to note. This is the first time he knocks on Penny's door to but he doesn't triple knock. I love how he doesn't have a clue when Leonard really wants him to apologise, thinking its a joke and his walk across the hall, is that odd controlled trot. Sheldon is fantastically alien in this episode. Such a unique, humanly distant yet loveable character.

[SpaceAnJL]

The guys and their deeply technical and overly complicated plans, whilst Penny very capably put the furniture together in the background. Underlined the premise that she's Practical to their Intellectual. The characters came into focus in this ep, the fact that scientific curiosity would trump anything else. Penny's incredulity wiping out her anger, because Sheldon is so clearly tuned to a different station.

Sheldon and Leonard with the box still makes me laugh. Old-fashioned physical comedy.